"And I. Five years ago it would have been like a kitten toying with a ball. Now it's a question of the will--and the body! That's what we've got to find out. The body's a curious thing, Dodo, and it has curious ways of going back on you all at once, without as much as saying 'by your leave.' There was a chap in at Doctor Lampson's this morning--chap I knew in college, strong as a Hercules, a body just glowing with strength. He'll be dead within the year--galloping consumption!" "You went to a doctor?" "The finest. Wanted to get down to facts, Dodo; find out what's going on inside." "What did he say?" she asked breathlessly. "He said it could be done!" said Lindaberry in a matter-of-fact way. "We talked over ways. But first, I thought I'd give you another chance." "What do you mean?" "Last night, out there--stars and all that--wasn't a fair start! How do you feel now with a practical old sun winking down at you?" he asked, with a quizzical smile that did not conceal the intensity of his suspended waiting. "Oh, Mr. Lindaberry!" she said impulsively. "Do it for your own self! Be strong!" "No," he said quietly; "I won't do it for myself. I'll make the fight for you--to please you, Dodo! You've got hold of me as no one ever has. And then you're not afraid, bless your childish eyes! Well, am I to do it for you?" She was quiet a moment, thrown out of all her mental calculations by the swift electric appeal to her emotional self that came with his blunt declaration. Men had loved her sooner or later, mildly or with infatuation; but she had never before felt so deeply what she and a divine hazard could mean in one life. Her eyes filled with sudden tears. "Do it for me!" she said gently, and the next moment her heart smote her as if she had been guilty of a second lie. "Now is a good date--rather close to Thanksgiving," he said, in his chuckling Anglo-Saxon way. Then he laid one hand on her arm and said solemnly: "Wrecks oughtn't to get sentimental. I won't! But remember this, Dodo: you're the first breath of real life that's come to me. You've got hold of me--strong! I'm going to win out for you--and I'm going--" He halted as abruptly as he had begun. "Now, that's all till I get straightened out. If I don't, forget it!" "But you will!" she exclaimed, forgetting all her resolves to enlighten him on the subject of her affections. "There'll be some bad bumps," he said grimly. "I've got into this night habit pretty deep--insomnia, and then anything to eat up the night. Lampson's got some new system to try out on me. Later, perhaps, I'll beat it for the woods; but just at present, a few weeks, I guess you can do me more good than anything else!" "Can I?" she said gratefully. "Yes. Time for lunch now. Are you starved?" he said evasively. "I'll talk over things and ways later."